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Five Officers in Custody in Freddie Gray's Death; Prosecutor: Gray's Death was a Homicide. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired May 01, 2015 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MICHAEL SKOLNIK, EDITOR IN CHIEF, GLOBAL GRIND: And leading to officers abusing their power and ultimately killing people.

[14:00:04] BLITZER: All right. Michael Skolnik, editor in chief, GlobalGrind.com. Thanks very much for joining us.

SKOLNIK: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: That's it for me. I'll be back 5 p.m. Eastern in THE SITUATION ROOM. Brooke Baldwin is in Baltimore. She picks up CNN's special coverage right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. You're watching CNN's special live coverage here from Baltimore. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And this is a different city today than what we have felt, really, for the better part of the last week. Much of the frustration replaced with a lot of satisfaction here. And the calls for justice may actually be quieted for today after the unexpectedly swift action here by the state's attorney. She's the city's chief prosecutor. She is Marilyn Mosby. Four months on the job.

Steps from where I am now, just in front of the war memorial here across the way from city hall, she announced that her office filed 28 criminal charges against the officers who, Mosby stressed, wrongfully arrested Freddie Gray back on April 12.

Minutes ago, Baltimore's mayor responded to that late-breaking development.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE, MAYOR OF BALTIMORE: As mayor, I have said from the beginning that no one is above the law in our city. I was sickened and heartbroken by the statement of charges that we heard today. Because no one in our city is above the law. Justice must apply to all of us equally.

With today's official indictment, I have ordered Police Commissioner Batts to utilize the full extent of his legal authority and immediately suspend all officers facing felony charges. In fact, warrants have been executed, and five officers are in custody. We know that the vast majority of the men and the women in the

Baltimore City Police Department serve our city with pride, with courage, with honor, and with distinction. But to those of you who wish to engage in brutality, misconduct, racism, and corruption, let me be clear. There is no place in the Baltimore City Police Department for you.

Today's indictments are the next step in the legal process that is running its course. And as mayor, I will continue to be relentless in changing the culture of the police department, to ensure that everyone in our city it treated equally under the law. There will be justice for Mr. Gray. There will be justice for his family. And there will be justice for the people of Baltimore.

Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was the mayor here in Baltimore moments ago, but let's get back to the state's attorney, Marilyn Mosby. She detailed this morning how these six Baltimore police officers repeatedly failed to help this 25-year-old man, Freddie Gray, who suffered a deadly spinal injury in their custody. She also gave an incredibly detailed play by play of Gray's fatal ride in that prisoner transport van. Here she was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARILYN MOSBY, STATE'S ATTORNEY: The statement of probable cause is as follows. On April 12, 2015, between 8:45 and 9:15 a.m. near the corner of North Avenue and Mount Street, Lieutenant Brian Rice of the Baltimore Police Department, while on bike patrol with Officers Garrett Miller and Edward Nero, made eye contact with Mr. Freddie Carlos Gray Jr.

Having made eye contact with Mr. Gray, Mr. Gray subsequently ran from Lieutenant Rice. Officers Miller and Nero then handcuffed Mr. Gray and moved him to a location a few feet away from his surrendering location.

Mr. Gray was then placed in a prone position, with his arms handcuffed behind his back. It was at this time that Mr. Gray indicated that he could not breathe and requested an inhaler, to no avail.

Officers Miller and Nero then placed Mr. Gray in a seated position and subsequently found a knife clipped to the inside of his pants pocket. The blade of the knife was folded into the handle. The knife was not a switchblade and is lawful under Maryland law. These officers subsequently removed the knife and placed it on the sidewalk.

Mr. Gray was then placed back down on his stomach, at which time Mr. Gray began to flail his legs and scream as Officer Miller placed Mr. Gray in a restraining technique known as a leg lace, while Officer Nero physically held him down against his will until a BPD wagon arrived to transport Mr. Gray. [14:05:02] Lieutenant Rice, Officer Miller and Officer Nero

failed to establish probable cause for Mr. Gray's arrest, as no crime had been committed by Mr. Gray. Accordingly, Lieutenant Rice, Officer Miller, and Officer Nero illegally arrested Mr. Gray.

Upon arrival of the transport wagon driven by Officer Caesar Goodson, Lieutenant Rice, Officer Nero and Officer Miller loaded Mr. Gray into the wagon, and at no point was he secured by a seat belt while in the wagon, contrary to a BPD general order.

Lieutenant Rice then directed BPD wagon to stop at Baker Street. At Baker Street, Lieutenant Rice, Officer Nero, and Officer Miller removed Mr. Gray from the wagon, placed flex cuffs on his wrists, placed leg shackles on his ankles, and completed required paperwork.

Officer Miller, Officer Nero, and Lieutenant Rice then loaded Mr. Gray back into the wagon, placing him on his stomach, head first, on to the floor of the wagon. Following transport from Baker Street, Mr. Gray suffered a severe and critical neck injury as a result of being handcuffed, shackled by his feet, and unrestrained inside of the BPD wagon.

From Baker Street, Officer Goodson proceeded to the vicinity of Mosher Street and Fremont Avenue, where he subsequently parked the avenue and proceed to the back of the wagon in order to observe Mr. Gray. Despite stopping for the purpose of checking on Mr. Gray's condition, at no point did he seek nor did he render any medical assistance for Mr. Gray.

Officer William Porter arrived on the scene near Dolphin Street and Druid Hill Avenue. Both Officer Goodson and Officer Porter proceeded to the back of the wagon to check on the status of Mr. Gray's condition. Mr. Gray at that time requested help and indicated that he could not breathe. Officer Porter then physically assisted Mr. Gray from the floor of the van to the bench. Despite Mr. Gray's obvious and recognized need for medical assistance, Officer Goodson, in a grossly negligent manner, chose to respond to the 1600 block of West North Avenue with Mr. Gray still unsecured by a seat belt in the wagon without rendering to or summonsing medical assistance for Mr. Gray.

Once the wagon arrived, Officer Goodson walked to the back of the wagon and again opened the doors to the wagon to make observations of Mr. Gray. Sergeant Alicia White, Officer Porter, and Officer Goodson observed Mr. Gray unresponsive on the floor of the wagon.

After completing the North Avenue arrest and loading the additional prisoner into the opposite side of the wagon containing Mr. Gray, Officer Goodson then proceeded to the western district police station. A medic was finally called to the scene, whereupon arrival, the medic determined that Mr. Gray was now in cardiac arrest and was critically and severely injured.

Mr. Gray was rushed to the University of Maryland shock trauma, where he underwent surgery. On April 19, 2015, Mr. Gray succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was the state's attorney this morning in the 10 a.m. hour here in Baltimore. And it was so important we wanted to play every second of that for you so you heard every detail of what happened on April 12.

Now, the officers' charges range from official misconduct to second-degree murder. That charge against the driver of that police van, Officer Caesar Goodson.

CNN crews are fanned across the city, of course, to cover demonstrations, to hear from members of the community in the wake of this major, major news here in the city.

But first, let's go through all this with CNN legal analyst Mark Geragos and Sunny Hostin. Also, next to me I have Evan Perez, our justice correspondent.

So Evan, let me just begin with you. Let's run through each of these officers. And we've also heard, by the way, five of them are now in police custody. Talk to me about the different charges they're facing.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Officer Goodson, who was the driver of the police transport van, he's facing the most severe charges. And clearly, there's the brunt of responsibility, at least according to the state attorney, for what happened here. He's facing second-degree depraved murder -- depraved heart murder, which means that at any point, he could have stopped or rendered some assistance to this prisoner, to this arrestee and didn't. That any reasonable person would have been able to see that he needed assistance and did not provide it.

BALDWIN: And also, because it was within the van. We heard Marilyn Mosby say in the custody, and specifically that's where that spinal cord injury would have taken place.

PEREZ: That's right. The injury, according to the -- to the prosecutor, occurs in there. Because they make three, four stops there altogether, look at him multiple times, and do not decide to render aid.

BALDWIN: Or restrain him as per protocol.

PEREZ: As per protocol.

[14:10:04] SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think it's important to note that when you're charging someone with this sort of crime, a second-degree murder, depraved indifference, it really means that the prosecution here thinks he is the bad actor, that he is the worst actor. Because when you charge someone like that, it is almost like charging someone with an intentional murder. It really means that they acted deliberately in such a reckless and wanton way that they had complete disregard, indifference for human life, and that indifference resulted in death. And the law almost treats it like a specific intent crime,

meaning someone who intended to kill someone. So that is really significant, that they felt strongly enough about their case that they would charge that driver with that crime.

PEREZ: It's like 30 years behind bars.

BALDWIN: Thirty years behind bars.

PEREZ: Behind bars. If he's found guilty.

BALDWIN: And four of these officers are facing voluntary manslaughter. Correct?

PEREZ: That's right.

HOSTIN: That's right. And that's sort of -- you know, of course it's still a killing crime, but it doesn't require that intent. It's sometimes called criminally negligent homicide. So it means by your recklessness, by your negligence, you killed someone. So that would go to the theory that they checked on him, and they still didn't render aid.

And I have to tell you, not only as a lawyer, not only as a journalist, but as a mother, can you imagine the last minutes of this Young man's life, when he is asking for assistance from another human being over and over and over again, and he failed to get that. That would make a very strong argument in front of a jury.

BALDWIN: Mark Geragos, let me bring your voice in. You're hearing all of their reactions to these charges. But on the flip side, I just want to ask you as far as these police officers are concerned, as this moves forward in the justice system, as they appear before a judge, and potentially a trial, would it be one trial? Do you have six defense attorneys for each of these officers? What does that process look like?

MARK GERAGOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: That's exactly what they most probably will try to do. But the officers are going to move, I would imagine, for a severance, No. 1. And I suspect that the reason that they've charged different kinds of crimes and seriousness of crimes is that they're going to try to get one of these officers to roll over on the other officers. They're going to want to see one of these guys...

BALDWIN: To flip, as Sunny was saying earlier. Exactly.

GERAGOS; Yes, they want -- they want to get that -- that done. But you've got a long way to go before you ever get to trial in this case. There's going to be all kinds of motions, asking to recuse the prosecutor herself or her office herself. There's going to be severance motions that are going to be run. All kinds of things that are going to be done prior to ever getting to a trial.

BALDWIN: Let's talk about the potential ask for recusal. I mean, Marilyn Mosby said it herself. She's fifth generation, you know, police officers in her family. And so, in fact, the police union here is asking for a special prosecutor in this case to be brought in. Because also, her husband is a city councilman here in Baltimore. Her lead assistant attorney has deep ties with the media: her family connections to the attorney here for the Gray family.

Here is Marilyn Mosby responding to that when she was asked about stepping down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOSBY: I can tell you that the people of Baltimore city elected me, and there's no accountability with a special prosecutor. I can tell you that from day one, we independently investigated. We're not just relying solely upon what we were given from the police department, period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So Sunny Hostin, what's the likelihood -- I mean, obviously she wants to take the case on.

HOSTIN: Yes, of course she wants to keep this case. This is a sort of make or break your career case. But I think there's some support for this office maintaining the case because she conducted an independent investigation. And so that makes a lot of sense.

When we're talking about special prosecutors, like in the case of the George Zimmerman trial in Florida, we needed a special prosecutor, because we did have that office investigating its own, and so it make a lot of sense to have someone else come in to conduct an investigation.

PEREZ: She made a point of that at this press conference, pointing out that not only was her office doing its own separate investigation, obviously they were ready to bring charges the day after getting the...

BALDWIN: I think that's worth reiterating. Because we kept saying this morning as we were anticipating hearing Marilyn Mosby speak, but we never in a million years thought it would happen so quickly. And I think it's important to point out to everyone watching, she had these independent investigators and this police integrity force working with her, right, to work alongside, as Baltimore Police...

PEREZ: And she brought in outsiders, she said. She brought in a couple of...

BALDWIN: Talk about that.

PEREZ: She said she brought in a couple of outside independent investigators to help her conduct this investigation. And clearly, when she got the police report, the evidence report that she got yesterday and the medical examiner's report this morning, which ruled this a homicide, she was ready to go.

BALDWIN: She was on it. She was on it. Mark Geragos, just final thoughts to you looking ahead.

GERAGOS: Look, look, the reporting on this has been, well, she acted really fast. She acted really fast. The reality is, if these weren't cops, if these were civilians that had done this, they would have acted even faster. So this was not exactly done with some supersonic speed. This is done the way the system usually works.

You get a report. They say it's a homicide. You identify who it is that's responsible. The prosecutor files charges. So I think it's a little bit of a misnomer she was acting so quickly. It's only because there's officers involved that there was any delay whatsoever.

BALDWIN: Mark, great point. Thank you so much.

Sunny Hostin, Evan Perez, thank you guys very, very much.

Here at the top of the hour, want to show you some live pictures here on the ground within this community. We'll pop them up on the screen. And you can see: we're watching and we're listening. We're in the thick of it. We want to hear from people in Baltimore. How do they feel now that the state attorney has brought these criminal charges against these six officers? More reaction. We'll take it live.

You're watching CNN's special coverage. I'm Brooke Baldwin in Baltimore.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:20:08] BALDWIN: You're watching CNN breaking news. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Six Baltimore police officers have been charged criminally in the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray. We learned from the mayor moments ago that five of those officers are now themselves in police custody, while the city's chief prosecutor, Marilyn Mosby, emphasized that the Freddie Gray investigation remains ongoing. She warned all law enforcement officers not to say or do anything that could possibly jeopardize this case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOSBY: While I am committed to transparency, what I have revealed here today is now a matter of public record. However, the evidence that we have collected and continue to collect cannot ethically be released to the public.

And I strongly condemn anyone in law enforcement with access to trial evidence who has leaked information prior to the resolution of this case. You are only damaging our ability to conduct a fair and impartial process for all parties involved.

I hope that, as we move forward with this case, everyone will respect due process and refrain from doing anything that will jeopardize our ability to seek justice. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Even the president of the United States earlier today talked about seeking truth here in this case but also reminded everyone that these police officers are afforded due process.

But how is the community here reacting to this news that these officers are criminally charged? Let's find out. Let's go to my colleagues, both Brian Todd, who's at that CVS that was burned and looted from Monday night's riots. And I also have Ryan Young, who's currently outside Baltimore central booking.

So Brian Todd, let me begin with you. Tell me what people are saying to you.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, it is an outright street celebration here. A little more than three hours after Marilyn Mosby made that announcement of charges, it's been very spontaneous all day long. You've got people over here on loud speakers, giving testimonials, speeches, prayers. That lady there doing that now.

We're going to bring it back over this way and show you the police presence here. Because that's kind of a telling thing, too. The police are out in numbers in this intersection, but they are really letting these people have space. This is the extent of their involvement. They're directing traffic over here. But otherwise, they're just ringing the sidewalks. They're letting people really express themselves, even come into the street on occasion and maybe block traffic for a minute or two. But then people will generally move back.

I want to talk to someone here -- come over here, Tom. We're going to talk to this man, named David Balding (ph). David had an experience, he says, similar to the one that Freddie Gray had. He said he was roughed up by a police officer in Prince George's County. And he was injured in that traffic stop. But he says they threw the case out of court.

David, given the treatment that you say you had at the hands of police, what are you feeling about this situation today and these charges?

DAVID BALDING (PH), BALTIMORE RESIDENT: I feel as though the overall situation has been, you know, not properly dealt with. But all in all, I feel as though that justice has been served today.

As it relates to my particular situation at hand, I'm just asking for justice to be served swiftly. It shouldn't take three years for a case to be resolved. I don't have any prior records or anything to that effect. I'm an upstanding citizen. You know, I treat people the way I want to be treated, you know. And I feel as though that's the way that, you know, this should be conducted. You know, so...

TODD: You think you'll stay out here for a while and kind of take all this in? BALDING (ph): Yes, you know, this is history making, to say the

least, you know. I think there definitely needs to be some change, you know, that needs to occur. And there needs to be true transparency, you know. One particular person's words shouldn't matter more than another person's word. Evidence that's being submitted should take, you know, precedent.

TODD: David, thanks very much. And good luck with your case. Thanks for talking to us.

Brooke, that's one perspective out here from a man who says he's gone through something similar. And the rest of these people are out here celebrating.

But what we're told is -- by several protesters that they don't believe it's over yet. They're not going to be really satisfied unless they get a conviction. Of course, that is going to be weeks, months down the road. But for now, they are celebrating.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much, Brian Todd. And thank you so much for letting us hear from that man. We just want to hear from the people, get their reaction to the news today from the state's attorney. Thank you, Brian.

Ryan Young, let me head over to you. Tell me why you're there at central booking. I had heard earlier that there was going to be a march passing by there. Sort of symbolic as far as how many young people are in that building behind you. Set the scene for me.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it wouldn't surprise me if that happened. All day long, we've seen people as they're driving by, honking their horns, trying to figure out whether or not the officers have been taken into custody right now.

You can see the sign right here behind me. The media, of course, has gathered outside the doors here. That's the sally port where someone would be brought in. But you know -- you've covered this long enough to know they don't put a sign on the outside of any of the vans that say, "These officers are coming in this van." So we see vans. Of course, we shoot the vans as they go inside.

The people are just happy for this moment. They've been discussing it for quite some time. Every time someone drives by, they roll down their window: "Are they there yet? Are they there yet?" So you can feel the anticipation.

[14:25:09] When we drove by the CVS, you could see those crowds of people who are hanging out and wanting to cheer and yell and screaming and honking their horns.

Dr. Robin Warren has been working in this community for quite some time.

You felt some of the passion this afternoon. Obviously, people are in a celebratory mood, aren't they? DR. ROBIN WARREN, BALTIMORE RESIDENT: Absolutely. People feel

hopeless, Ryan. You know, when you look at the conditions -- y'all have been covering the conditions in that area. And, you know, it's just hopeless. And with this indictment coming down, I guess I can call it an indictment, people feel a glimmer of hope. But they still don't trust the system.

YOUNG: Give me an idea, as we've been standing here, we've seen people celebrating and smiling. How do you feel? Are you worried about what the outcome could be later on?

WARREN: Absolutely. Because that we understand the law know there is a process. The prosecutor felt an obligation, I feel, to do what she did, because the people were ready to riot again. Because they just feel like there's no justice. No justice, no peace.

YOUNG: Thank you so much.

I can honestly tell you, Brooke, a lot of people have been talking about the idea that they were happy to watch developments today, but there's a lot of people in this community who are also saying, "Hey, wait, let's not get ahead of ourselves."

When we walked -- went by that CVS and saw the officers standing there, there's still a lot of conversations happening between the community and officers. There's a partnership that's going on. It's really interesting to watch, to see them having these conversations that maybe even days ago they wouldn't have had out there on a Baltimore city street.

BALDWIN: Ryan Young, thank you.

Next here on CNN, today we learned these new details about what allegedly happened in the back of that police transport van where the state's attorney says Freddie Gray sustained his fatal injuries. Coming up next, we will take you inside a similar van. Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)